The Mnemosyne
by Savvy Muse
Summary: Nicknamed 'the loony ship', the eccentric Mnemosyne and its crew gained a new member and some interesting events during the time period after the finding of the One. Prophecies may be being fulfilled, but meanwhile...too little summary space, aaah. Read!
1. you are not where you think you are

AN: On the origin of the name Mnemosyne--Mnemosyne is the Greek goddess of memory. All right then, not much to say, I suppose…this all starts roughly at the beginning of the first Matrix movie, and is following the same time period as both of them, to make it easier. I'm not going to be writing too much about the original Matrix characters—i.e. Neo, Morpheus, Trinity, etc—but they will probably be mentioned, and who knows, they might show up. Also, notice how I cleverly avoided typing up too many descriptive scenes! Yay me!

Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own the Matrix or any concepts related to it. Even sadder, I don't own the characters FROM the Matrix. And saddest, I don't own the actors that are IN the Matrix! Woe is I! Oh well, I do own all other original characters, unless otherwise stated. 

prolouge: a conversation 

"Simon Donaghy. That's the one we want." 

"Who the hell—oh, you mean Achilles." 

"Yes. That's his online identity, which is what he uses more often. Wait. How did you know--?" 

"I _am_ the resident hacker here, Alexei. You think I wouldn't know? I mean, you have been having me track him for some time, I think…besides, I talked to him online a few times." 

"_Orion…_I _told _you not to tell him anything!" 

"I haven't." 

"What? Haven't what?" 

"I haven't told him a damn thing. He's perceptive, that's all. Believe me, it's more than my job's worth to tell him _anything _without your go-ahead, and I know that."

"I hope you got him thinking." 

"He just better be thinking. Look at the code around him. It's having a spaz."  

"Why?" 

"I don't know. Mindset?" 

"The Agents seem to be interested in him. The time draws near when we should free his mind. He has to get out of there. Soon." 

"Yeah, yeah. Free minds. That's the whole point, isn't it?" 

"I don't see what that has to do with Achilles." 

"It doesn't. I'm just kind of spontaneously changing the subject." 

"You do that often, Orion." 

"I know. Back to Achilles. Interesting name, don't you think? Why would he choose it? I suppose the whole hero thing…" 

"Maybe he's implying that nothing is indestructible." 

"Not everyone thinks as philosophically as you do, Captain. Who knows, maybe he just thought the name was cool."     

"That's not really relevant, anyway."

"The real question is, what's his heel? And how does it affect us? I assume you want him to join the Mnemosyne?" 

"Yes. But we all have an Achilles heel, whether or not our name implies it." 

"Yep. I'm in over my head here. I just navigate, man. That's what I do. Knowing about the Matrix, though, you have to get used to philosophy. Although if you don't, you can always just kick the crap out of whoever's arguing." 

"That's a typical answer from you, Orion." 

"I know. But hey—someone has to lighten up the mood around here."  

chapter one: you aren't where you think you are

Achilles looked at the computer screen, waiting for the chat room to finish connecting. He'd spoken to someone strange there, a few times, the first being about 6 months ago…someone using the pseudonym 'Orion'. Unlike some people on the Internet, he seemed more human, due to his cynical nature. But with every sentence Orion said Achilles could see, could hear, that Orion was part of something. 

Orion knew something he didn't.

He'd been trying to track Orion for months, making a lot of unsuccessful attempts to find out his true identity, but by all counts it seemed that Orion didn't exist. He'd tried to ask Orion some subtle questions, but all he got were sarcastic answers that didn't answer anything at all. He checked the chat room every night, hoping for some sign of Orion—it was, he had said, the only chat he ever went to—but he hadn't showed up for a couple weeks. 

The chat signed on, but there was no sign of Orion. He watched the scrolling words for a while, rapidly appearing, searching for something that would lead him to information about that which he was looking for…because there would always be that question. He didn't know what it was. But he wanted to-_had _to-find an answer…because there was something out there he didn't know, and Orion was the key to it…but it didn't really seem like tonight was the night. The chat room was full of useless babble, conspiracy theories and the like… 

He was about to type a few lines of profanity to spice up the monotony when suddenly the screen went black.

"What the…" he muttered. He tried a 'restore' sequence on the keyboard. The screen stayed black. He was about to shut it down and restart when white letters appeared across the screen, as if they were being typed by some invisible correspondent. 

That's not going to work, Achilles. 

"What the hell?" He stared at the computer, tense. "Who—"

More words appeared. 

You aren't where you think you are. 

And then: 

You are in the Matrix. 

_The Matrix! _thought Achilles. _What the-- _

And then: 

Trust the first stranger you see, Achilles…

_What's that supposed to mean--_

…because you are out of time. 

The computer made an odd whirring noise and shut down. He heard a large thumping noise, as if someone was coming up the stairs of the apartment building, and loud, unintelligible voices, yelling, ordering something to be done. Then footsteps. More than one person's footsteps. 

Footsteps leading up to his door.

"Oh, shit," he said under his breath. "OK. What the hell is this." 

His phone rang. 

"What a totally inopportune time," he muttered. He picked up the phone. "Look, whoever this is, I can't talk right now, someone's at the door—" 

"I know," said a calm voice over the phone. "That is why I called. You have to get out of there. Those people at your door, they are coming for you, and the likelihood of your escape, once they have you, is slim." 

"How the hell am I supposed to get out?" asked Achilles, pacing back and forth. "Who are you?" 

"My name is Alexei. And don't bother with the phone line, I'm untraceable." 

Something connected in his mind. "Wait a minute. You're the guy I talked to after—" 

"I don't have time for this. I would suggest you get out of there. Go out the fire escape. There's not much time, soon they'll follow you out there. Do it. Now." 

Click.

Swearing at the phone, he threw open the fire exit door and raced down the rickety stairs. He reached the ground and glanced around, panting. There wasn't anyone there, so he started walking quickly down the street, not knowing quite where he was going. Oddly enough, his first thought was, _Somewhere with a computer. I just need to sit down and figure this out. _ "Damn," he swore. "What did I ever do to get into this?" 

     "You wanted to know something," said a quiet, almost commanding male voice from behind him. "You wanted knowledge, and it's finding you. However, what you'll come to realize is that knowledge is never quite what you wanted it to be. And sometimes, you'll wish you'd never sought that knowledge in the first place. "

     Achilles turned around slowly, to see a man, average height, with short black hair and grey eyes. He guessed he was in his thirties. "Who are you?" he questioned, looking the man in the eye. 

     The man smiled slightly. "To you, right now, I'm a stranger. Come with me." 

     Achilles remembered the message. 

     Here goes nothing, he said silently. 

     I have to know. 

     "I'll follow you," said Achilles, and they left. 

     "I'm Alexei," said the man as they walked quickly down darkened streets, empty of the usual daytime crowds. "There will be time to tell you who I am later. Now—" he stopped in front of a large, yet not really conspicuous building. "there is too much to tell already, and I am sorry to say, there is never enough time." Alexei opened the door. "Let's go." 

     They walked down a hallway, until they reached a large wooden door, which they opened and walked through. 

     "Hey, people." A young-looking man with spiky blonde hair greeted them. "Alexei. You made it. I know you usually don't do that stage, but I had to monitor something…plus, I'm working on a, ahem, project…"

     Alexei rolled his eyes. "A project. Meaning, you were 'testing the computer systems' again. Look, I don't have time to talk about this. Just explain. And _be honest._" 

     "What, you're leaving?" said the blonde-haired man, arching an eyebrow. "I thought—" 

     "I got a call from Sylph. She says that something's come up back at the Mnemosyne. Besides, you need the practice. You're at that damn computer so much, you almost never go in." Alexei left without a farewell and slammed the door. 

     The blonde-haired man shook his head ruefully. "That's Alexei for ya. Always abrupt. Brilliant, though. Although some people don't appreciate it." 

     "Who are you," said Achilles. 

     "What, you don't recognize me?" The man laughed. "Orion, at your service. But I'm not here to talk about me. I have to explain something to you. Or rather, explain that I can't explain. God, I suck at this. OK." 

     "You know what the Matrix is, don't you," said Achilles quietly. 

     Orion smiled crookedly. "Yes." 

     "You know what I'm going to ask you next, don't you." 

     "That I do. What is the Matrix? It's the never ending quandary, the big question, the question that throws things back in the enemy's face. And, I suspect, it's the question that brought you here, and it's the question that I bet you really wish I would answer, and just get to the point, right?" 

     "Yes." Achilles folded his arms, waiting. "Shoot."  

     "Well," replied Orion, "the Matrix is everywhere. You can see it right now, even. Hell, you always see it. You can see it, you can hear it, you can taste it, you can smell it. You can feel it, constantly. It's always there. You just never knew it before. But see, the thing about the Matrix," he continued, slightly apologetic, "is there's no point in trying to explain what it is. You just sorta have to experience it. Which sucks, by the way, but that's beside the point." 

     "And how do you do that?" asked Achilles, looking Orion in the eye. "How do you do that?" 

     Orion smiled. "Nice going. Well, you have to decide something. Like Alexei's always saying, it's a lot of knowledge. It'll change your life. Big time. But then again, sometimes you'll end up in a position where you really, really wish you hadn't asked, that you'd just left everything in place, etc. Now, do you really want to know what the Matrix is?" 

     Achilles glanced around, uneasy. Something was going to change, he thought. But…

     "Yes." 

     "OK. Now, here's the last stop. Your last chance to duck out of this crazy crap." He pulled out what looked like two vials, and emptied the contents into his hand. There was a blue pill, and a red pill. 

     "You take one of these. You take the blue pill—you 'wake up' back in your apartment. You are left to think about what a screwed dream you had, and how it almost seemed real. You keep living your life normally. Take the red pill, and you find out what I know that you don't. Which is what you wanted, wasn't it?" Achilles stared at him. "Yep, I knew it. I'm smarter than Alexei gives me credit for, you know. I'm just too sardonic." 

     Achilles reached for the red pill, and picked it up. Orion handed him a glass of water. "Here." 

     He swallowed it. 

     "Cue the ominous music," laughed Orion. "Come with me." They went back out into the hallway, and went up a flight of winding stairs, which creaked as they ascended them. "As they walked down a second hallway, Orion said, "The red pill is part of this trace program we have. It's designed so we can find out where the hell you are. Because I can tell you, you're certainly not here." 

     "I really don't understand what you're talking about," said Achilles tersely. 

     Orion's grin faded. "Yeah…you will soon, though. Come on." He led him through the last doorway on the left. There were three other people in the room, but Orion didn't introduce them. "We'll all have an introduction fest later, I guess. Here. Sit down." He motioned to a chair. Achilles sat down, warily. He was tense. _Here is the threshold, prepare to cross it…_

     Orion went over to a computer, where a dark-skinned woman with wavy shoulder-length black hair was sitting. "Got him yet, Atalanta?" 

     "No. This is what you're supposed to be doing," she retorted. "You do it, then." She got up and went over to Achilles. Orion sat down at the computer. 

     "Where is he?" he muttered. "The connection's spazzing out…" 

     As she quickly attached what looked like white electrode disks to his head, arms, and the back of his neck, Atalanta looked down at Achilles. "You're Achilles, right?" 

     "Yeah." 

     "Still dreaming, Achilles?" 

     "What's that supposed to mean?" 

     "Nothing. You'll find out soon enough."

     "Ever learn anything about virtual reality, Achilles?" laughed a tall, skinny woman with black hair. 

     _Virtual reality…_

     Achilles looked at the metal desk in front of him. It was so shiny he could see his own reflection…

     The metal _rippled, _like waves on the ocean. 

"What—did you see—" 

     "It's starting to work, Orion," warned Atalanta. "Get his location fast or we're screwed." 

     "Almost there…" 

     The metal looked almost liquid…instinctively he reached out and touched it. A gooey silver substance came out, _stretching, _and it started to creep up and cover his arm like some sort of awful disease. He watched it in horror. "Holy shit," he said quietly. "OK, what the hell is this—" 

     "Just stay calm, Achilles," said Atalanta. "It's all part of our routine process, it's fine--Orion, we_ need _the location—" 

     It was covering him, everywhere, it crept up towards his throat—

     "This happens every time, don't panic," said Atalanta. "Orion!!" 

     "Got it!" 

     Everything went black. 

--

On the ship Mnemosyne, in the north pipe, 50 miles from Zion…

"Orion got his location, Alexei," said a woman with short dark purple hair, slightly spiked up. "He's going through the process right now. Orion, Atalanta, Demetrius, and Pixel should be getting out soon." 

Alexei let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God. Remember how much trouble we had getting Pixel out, Sylph?" 

"God, yes…oh look, here comes Orion." 

Orion walked into the steering area, and looked out the one window of the Mnemosyne. "Bit desolate out there, isn't it," he commented. 

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," replied Sylph tartly. "How'd it go?" 

"Everything according to plan," said Orion in a fake-important voice. "Mr. Donaghy is now having a really crappy time discovering the joys of reality." 

"Good," said Alexei shortly. 

"I don't know about you people, but I remember how much that sucked…" 

"We all do," said Sylph. "Where are Pixel, Demetrius, and Atalanta?" 

"Demetrius is getting some sleep, Atalanta's talking to Psyche, and Pixel's still in." 

"Why?" questioned Sylph, looking alarmed. "What's she doing?" 

"Looking for a glitch. Apparently there's been some flying objects around the Oak Street area and she's checking it out. Would you excuse me? I need to go do my job." He grinned and left. 

Sylph checked her watch. "Better go. They should be getting Achilles pretty soon." 

"Good luck." 

"Thanks." 

Sylph walked into the other room. "Hey, Demetrius," she greeted him. "Thought you were getting some sleep." 

"I was, but I thought that Arrow needed it more. He was going to get Achilles, but he's been awake for 48 hours straight so I thought I'd take over." 

"Is he out yet?" 

"Yep. One of _their _machines is getting him out…he's going to 'get dumped', to use Orion's terminology…" 

"You've got to admit, he is direct." 

"Yes…OK. Dumping has taken place. Come _on, _you stupid machine, pick him _up…_ha! Got him! OK, get ready…hope we didn't kill him in the process…" 

"Why?" 

"Because Orion said Alexei'd have a cow." 

"Alexei having a cow. Well, I've survived it, but it causes some major damage." 

--


	2. existence is futile

AN: I have REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-turned! Feel special! OK, sorry, I'm a bit hyper. Not much to say, really. 'Allo to everyone. Continue to read and review. Forgive any horrid typing errors. And remember, put your trash in the proper receptacles. Also remember that I hate, hate, hate describing things, so I'm leaving you to draw your own conclusions about what the Mnemosyne looks like…come on. It's a Matrix ship. What more do you need, people??? Au revoir! ~Savvy Muse 

Disclaimer: Laaaa de daaaa (I don't own the Matrix) Tra la laaaaa (and neither do you) Doooo be doooo (I do own the Mnemosyne) whoop-de-wahooooo (and OCs, too) 

(OK, that was really screwed…) 

chapter two: existence is futile 

Achilles opened his eyes to find he had no idea where the hell he was or why he was there. He was lying down on a bed. Somewhere. Here. Wherever that was…

_You are not where you think you are…_well, now he didn't know where he was, so that was irrelevant…

Wait! 

He remembered now. Orion. The weird message on his computer. The red pill, the rippling metal…and then—

_What the hell happened?! _

He was…plugged into…something…that liquid, the machine, those rows and rows of people…

That was _disgusting. _Horrifying. Incomprehensible. 

Weirdest dream he'd had in quite some time. 

Something itched on the back of his neck. Instinctively he reached up to scratch it, but drew his hand back, stunned, feeling, impossibly, _metal…_

_Impossible…_

_But I came seeking knowledge…_

_No. That's not possible. It's something from the process. _

_Anything is possible…_

_You are not where you think you are…_

_No! It's not possible! _

He was going to find out what was going on. He found he was wearing drab-looking clothes, gray and black tones that seemed to almost blend into the metal walls. 

He got up and walked quickly over to the door, threw it open, and said calmly but loudly. "OK, does anyone feel like telling me what the hell is going on?"

Orion popped out from behind a corner. "I knew it," he said triumphantly. "See, I can always predict when they're gonna get out. Remember? With Atalanta? I win." He grinned. "Hi, Achilles." 

"I take that as a 'no', then?" replied Achilles dryly. "Now, spill. _Tell me what is going on. _Now, if at all possible." 

Orion shrugged. "Don't you know already? I mean…" 

"Orion, stop playing with him already and go back to work," ordered Alexei, stepping in, followed by 4 other people. 

"Sorry about Orion," the woman with purple hair he vaguely remembered seeing apologized. "He's always like that. I'm Sylph." 

"You already know Atalanta," said Alexei, gesturing to her, "and me." 

"I'm Demetrius." 

"I'm Pixel," said an Asian-looking woman with fierce green eyes. ""Psyche's not here right now."  

"Arrow," a thin olive-skinned man said in a soft, but firm voice. "Welcome to the Mnemosyne." 

"Um…you all know I'm Achilles," said Achilles warily. "Welcome to the…what?" 

"This is the Mnemosyne," said Sylph. "It's our ship." 

'Or rather, Alexei's ship," commented Demetrius. 

Alexei grinned. "Yes, I suppose so. Technically, it's my ship." He looked over at Achilles. "The name Mnemosyne is from an ancient Greek legend—she's the Greek goddess of memory." His expression changed, and now his voice was tinged with sadness. "We named it that as a way to—remember the memory of what used to exist." 

Achilles was uneasy. He didn't trust anyone at the moment. Or had he _ever _trusted anyone? Here he was on this strange 'ship'—although what kind of 'ship' it was, he didn't know. Spaceship, maybe? He couldn't figure it out. 

_What the hell happened? _

_What was that place with the machines? _

_Why am I here? _

"I want answers," he said, looking directly at Alexei. 

Demetrius glanced at Alexei. "Alexei—" 

"OK," said Alexei, sounding resigned to something. "You all, get back to whatever you were doing." 

They all departed, except for Alexei. 

Alexei looked at Achilles. "Come with me." 

Achilles followed him into a circular room, where Pixel was standing. "Would you mind loading the base program, Pixel?" asked Alexei. 

"Sure, said Pixel. "I'll get it." Then which—

AN: 

WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAM TO INFORM READERS OF A SAD FACT: 

Savvy Muse sucks at descriptions. Savvy Muse will not, therefore, write a description of the whole 'getting plugged into the Construct-program-ish thing'. We will, instead, mend things up with what we call a plot hole. Randomly, our current character Achilles is in the random Construct-program-ish-thing. Of course, it's not called the Construct. This is the Mnemosyne. They call it something else. Sorry for the interruption—Savvy Muse

Achilles blinked. 

There just wasn't anything there. 

He was standing in…

Whiteness. 

Wait a minute…

There was no sign of Alexei. 

"Um, hey? Is anyone else here? Wherever this is?" he called out. "Hello?" 

"Right here, Achilles." 

Alexei popped out of nowhere, startling him. "Gyah! Oh…um, hi, Alexei. What does this have to do with anything? Where is this place?" 

"I just call it 'the base program', although I must admit Orion has lots of, ah, creative names for it. It's our loading program. It's pretty versatile. We can load up whatever we need…"

--

Meanwhile, Demetrius walked up to Sylph. "Hey, Sylph, have you seen Arrow around?"  

"He's contacting the Arachne, which is roughly in the same area…it appears they're having some trouble." 

"What sort of trouble?" 

"They were trying to free this one woman, but they made a mistake in choosing her. She went in a few days ago and she ran off and refuses to come out. Apparently she has a boyfriend or husband or something that she doesn't want to leave…" 

"Oh, man…" 

"Yes. Personally, I think they never should have given Xia command of a ship. She doesn't know people very well, she's not very intuitive, which is kind of a major flaw." 

"It's the basic rudimentary standard, is what Orion said—it's better to free people with no major relationships with other people. Find the loners." 

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Sylph, her voice sharp. 

Demetrius sighed. "It's very, _very _dangerous bringing someone who's—in a major relationship with someone _in _the Matrix, _out _of the Matrix. I've—I've seen it, it's—" He broke off. "Not a good thing." 

Sylph decided it was time to change the subject. Demetrius was looking somewhat stressed, although she couldn't imagine why. "You know what Xia said?" 

     "What?" 

"She heard a rumor that Morpheus—you do know who Morpheus is?" 

"Oh, god, yes. Who doesn't?" Demetrius laughed. "Orion calls him 'the almighty prophet of the Nebuchadnezzar' sometimes." 

"That's possibly apt," said Sylph. "Captain Xia says Morpheus believes he's found the One." 

"No shit!" 

"I know. It's this guy who calls himself Neo, and he's older than the usual age we unplug people, but Morpheus is convinced that he's the One…" 

"Y'know, sometimes I think…" 

"What?" 

"Sometimes I wonder whether Morpheus might be right." 

"Don't we all?"

"It'd be amazing. But I worry about Morpheus." Demetrius looked stressed again, only this time more so, and also anxious.

"Why? Seems like he's doing pretty well. I mean, he's the captain of the freaking Nebuchadnezzar. His crew is rather astounding. I mean, he's got Trinity, Apoc, all these great people, not to mention himself. He has a purpose, unlike some of us." 

 "See, that's it, though, Sylph," argued Demetrius. "It's his _purpose._ I mean, from what Alexei says, Morpheus's entire life is centered around finding the One, fulfilling this prophecy. He believes in it, Sylph—believes it _completely. _Worse, I think Alexei does. And if it turns out _not_ to be true, if Morpheus is wrong—" There was a hint of urgency in Demetrius's voice.

"What are you getting at?" Sylph didn't like the tone of his voice. 

"It'll destroy him, Sylph," replied Demetrius softly. "And Zion, not to mention Alexei, he'll—" He stopped abruptly. "We'll deal with that when we come to it, I guess, but it's disturbing."   

     "We deal with everything when it happens," said Sylph. "And in the meantime, we just hope." 

--

     "So that's it," said Achilles flatly. "Nothing exists." 

     Alexei nodded. "Yes." He looked like he was waiting for some sort of reaction. 

     "Nothing…" Achilles glanced down. "That's really depressing, Alexei." 

     Alexei looked kind of startled. "I know…however, your reaction is a lot milder than most people who we unplug, so to speak. Strange. I wouldn't have thought…" 

     Achilles shrugged. "There's no point in having a fit, right? I mean, it's not like we can do anything about it directly, and it's not like I'm really broken up about the awful fate of a human race I don't really know." 

     Alexei looked at him strangely. "What do you mean by that, Achilles?" 

     "What I _mean,_" replied Achilles tightly, "is that I'm something of an _outsider. _And therefore, it's not like I was personally acquainted with a lot of people in…the Matrix. I don't like the battery concept. I'm not OK with it, per se. But you know, that's just the way it fucking _is_, so I'm not going to waste a lot of energy freaking out over it. Get it?" 

     Alexei looked troubled over something. "OK. Arrow? Can you get us out?"

     Seconds later, they were out of the program. Achilles stood up. "I think I'll hit the sack," he said. "Do I just sleep in the same place I was before?" 

     "Yeah. Down the hall on the left," said Alexei. 

     When Achilles had left, Pixel (who had been leaning against the wall for quite some time) approached Alexei. "Anything bothering you?" she said in her harsh, yet melodious voice. She was a strange one, Pixel. Her code was a little messed up in the Matrix…then again, this was the _Mnemosyne. _Everyone was slightly strange…

     "Achilles. He's too much like me," Alexei said abruptly. "And that's not a good thing." He left. Pixel remained in the room, looking at the empty seats, a triumphant gleam in her eye. 

     "Yes," she laughed to herself quietly. "We _did _get the right person, didn't we." 

--

Achilles headed down the hallway, but was stopped by a good-natured voice. "Yo! Achilles!" There was Orion. "You okay there, man?" 

"Yeah." 

     "Found out the ultimate truth, huh?" 

"What's the ultimate truth." 

"Existence is futile." 

"Oh. Yeah." 

"Good. It sucks, though, doesn't it…however, you get used to it after a while. Gotta admit, though, you look a little depressed. Want some food?" 

     Achilles shook his head. "No, I'm fine." 

     "'K." 

     Achilles went into the room and sat on the bed. Orion sat down next to him. "You don't want to _sleep, _do you?" he asked disbelievingly. "That'd be a first…" 

     Achilles assured him it was the opposite. 

     "Good," laughed Orion. "Yeah. That's normal. Don't mind if I talk at you, do ya?"

     "No, that's fine," replied Achilles. "It could get boring fast just sitting here doing nothing." 

     "Great." Orion rolled his eyes. "God. I'm so sick of listening to Demetrius. He keeps going on about how he wants to get off the ship and get back to Zion." He shook his head. "Stupid." 

     "Zion?" 

     "Oh, sorry. Zion's the freaking Mecca of the resistance. It's—" He adopted an ominous, mocking tone. "The laaast city of the human raaaace. Dun dun dun dun dun!!! It's fine, but I like it here on the Mnemosyne better." 

     "Why?" asked Achilles. "I mean, it'd get boring, just stuck here on this one ship…right? Nowhere to go." That's one thing that bothered him a lot about the Matrix. Stuck on a ship—hovercraft, Alexei had said—for eternity? Not good. 

     "That's what _you _think. This is where the excitement is." Orion's eyes lit up. "Yep. We hack into the Matrix from _here. _Not from Zion. And believe me, that's where all the fun is. Yeah! Agents, random programs running around, minds to be freed, etc. etc. Things to do. Alexei says it's stupid to have fun with danger, but I disagree. I think that danger's the only really exciting thing there is." 

     Achilles didn't understand half of what Orion was saying. Agents? Programs 'running around'? But it would seem that they could go _back into _the Matrix from here. Strange! He'd just find out about that when he came to it…

     "Besides," Orion was saying, "we're going to get in deep shit when we get back to Zion. Commander Locke doesn't get along with Alexei any more than he does with Morpheus, for whatever reason…We won't exactly be overly welcomed." 

     "Why not?" 

     Orion grinned. "Achilles, this is the _Mnemosyne. _You've been drafted into the craziest, most reckless crew in Zion. The Mnemosyne is often called the 'loony ship' and we're often in disfavor with the Big C. What I call Commander Locke," he added, explaining. "Locke's the big guy shipwise. He's got a lot of power. Alexei's always pissing him off. If you wanted a tame experience—you got on the wrong ship. Now, I must be buggering off. I'm going to go watch code some more." 

     Achilles was getting tired. He yawned. "Code?" 

     "Matrix code. Get some sleep—you'll want energy tomorrow, I suspect." 

     "Why?" 

     "Training." With that cryptic answer, Orion shut the door. 

     _Orion, _thought Achilles. _The guy's crazy! Then again…_


End file.
